Making History Relevant: Reinterpreting America's Reconstruction Era

ID : 576

We will first examine how historians' evolving interpretations of the post-Civil War Reconstruction era have both influenced--and been influenced by--social and cultural changes. We will then examine a case study of Reconstruction in the Shenandoah Valley illustrating more recent approaches to interpreting the era’s social and political issues, its cultural context and racial progress. With this context, in the final session we will explore Reconstruction’s relevance to such contemporary issues as marriage as a civil right, defining and re-defining American citizenship, culture and politic’s symbiotic relationship, and equality before the law, among other issues.

Class Details

3 Sessions
Weekly - Mon

Notice

Please read:
Reading: Required: Race and Reunion: the Civil War in American Memory, Prologue & Epilogue by David Blight, ISBN-13: 9780674003323
Reading: Suggested: A Short History of Reconstruction, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner. Race and Reunion: the Civil War in American Memory by David Blight